The Bucs defense is on fire and just ended the Saints curse

In an eventful game that included ejections of Mike Evans and Marshon Lattimore following a fight that broke out over who gets to take Gisele’s place should she and Tom Brady divorce, the Bucs went to the Big Easy and stole a 20-10 victory from the Saints despite another lackluster performance by TB12 and this offense.

The Bucs’ defense came alive in the second half following the aforementioned brawl—with four takeaways over nine plays (and five total for the game)—and was too much for New Orleans to overcome in a difficult division matchup.

It was a sight familiar to many Bucs fans; Jameis Winston threw three interceptions: two to corner Jamel Dean, and one to safety Mike Edwards for a Bucs touchdown that sealed the win for Tampa Bay.

Winston was dealing with a very painful back injury, and it showed. He reverted back to his old gunslinger ways, bringing to mind his infamous 30-for-30 season, except the 30 TD, 5K passing yard side was missing from Sunday’s performance.

This matchup featured a pair of head coaches that were promoted from the defensive coordinator position on their respective teams, and it showed, with the Bucs scoring the lone meaningful offensive touchdown.

While the offensive struggles are a bit concerning, it’s still Week 2. If this was preseason and someone told you the Bucs would score just a pair of offensive touchdowns through as many games and be 2-0, I think we’d all be pretty stoked.

The Bucs are on fire defensively. They’re getting after the quarterback, hitting double digits in sack totals already for the year as they added six sacks to their four last week, with Devin White leading the way with three to start the year. Given, they’ve faced some banged up squads to start the year, with the Saints being without superstar back Alvin Kamara this week and the Cowboys missing their star left tackle Tyron Smith and starting wide receiver Michael Gallup, but it’s still encouraging and a way to build momentum moving forward.

TB12 did have a really beautiful throw to veteran Breshad Perriman to account for the lone offensive touchdown, but other than that… this game was a struggle. A fumbled snap, a failed fourth down conversion, and just a lack of ability to get anything going. Tampa Bay only managed a little over 250 yards of total offense, but did only commit one turnover.

No matter. The Bucs are 2-0, and are looking more like the Tony Dungy-era Bucs than the recent TB12-led teams. And hey, the Rays won today, too.

Fire those cannons.

This article appears in Sep 15-21, 2022.